I've decided I should get back to writing blogs more frequently.
Instagram (where I hang out most of the time these days) is fun, and although I know it's where all the action is at these days, I find it just as time consuming to create an Instagram post (media + caption) as I do a blog post (mainly just text).
Also, you can be much more thorough in a blog post, so for those of you who have an attention span longer than 3 seconds (if you're reading this, it means you do!), I hope you'll enjoy some content which goes into more detail!
Back when I used to live, breathe, and eat healthy blogs, I absolutely loved the "day in a life" type of blog post. Sure, "educational" content is great, but...what about the in's and out's of daily life?! Especially being someone who loves geeking out on other people's training schedules and favourite meals, for me it was like a healthy living version of reality TV! This is ultimately what prompted me to start my own health and fitness blog back in 2014, called Squash on Squash (RIP!).
I digress.
This week's post is a recap of last week's training, which was tiring but good quality throughout.
Monday
AM: Match vs Haley (~1 hr; 8/10)
I went into NYC and played a match against Haley at the Manhattan Community Squash Center! It was good to get a match in vs another female pro and a good reminder that I need to make more of an effort to do that more often, especially leading up to tournaments.
PM: Technical ghosting (1 hr; 7/10 but felt harder!)
Shortly after returning from NYC I went to the club for a ghosting session. Paul Carnero has been taking me through ghosting sessions twice a week and they have been extremely helpful for my movement efficiency and on-court fitness. The first session of the week is always focused on a technical aspect of movement, and today we worked on the split step and strength in the lunge. This session isn't meant to be super taxing in the moment, but you sure feel it afterwards, and I certainly did after my match in the morning.
If I remember correctly, I went for a last-minute massage after this session! I tend not to get massages during the training week, but I was desperate!
Tuesday
AM: Solo hit (40 min; 5/10)
Nothing much to report here. I've really been enjoying doing solo hits as a recovery session in the mornings, especially if I have a hard session planned later on.
PM: Clinic at Chelsea Piers (1.5 hr; 7/10)
Felt sharp! Was hitting and moving pretty well, and had good energy throughout.
Wednesday
AM: Drills & condition games with Jaymie (1.25 hrs; 6/10)
Usually I do a solo before my league match, but Jaymie was keen to hit this morning so we went to the club together! We did a mixture of drills, then condition games to finish. Overall not a very physically taxing session but good quality.
PM: Pro League match (40 min; 7/10)
I played Patrick Keller- a local junior. It was kind of a funny match, because I felt I almost played too well in the first 2 games, and won them a bit too easily (which never happens!). I was playing smart, controlling the pace of the rallies, and not letting Patrick use his pace against me. Anyway, in the 3rd game I think I became far too complacent and absolutely tanked it. The 4th game was close, and I managed to sneak it out 14-12, finishing off with a grueling 90 second rally!
Recently, I've been videoing my practice matches, which has proved really useful to analyze tactics afterwards. It only takes a couple seconds effort to set up, and is worth every bit of that effort and forethought!
Thursday
AM: Solo hit (45 mins; 5/10)
Again, a good little recovery solo. This always helps my recovery score go UP afterwards. Moderate intensity for the (recovery) win!
PM: Match vs Chris (7/10); Strength (8/10)
Part of the reason I took it easy in the AM was because I had a match scheduled later on AND I wanted to aim to get a strength session in afterwards.
Chris is one of my weekly standing matches, and while we almost always have a battle, he comes up with the W 99% of the time. Recently I've been fed up with that statistic, so I changed my tactics, played smarter (like I did on Wednesday evening!) and managed to squeeze the win in 5 games. Chris is a very good competitor and absolutely hates to lose, so I feel I may have poked the bear a bit... stay tuned for next week's match recap!
I still had pretty good energy after our match, so I went to the gym and did a strength workout. I went heavy with my weights and worked in the 8 rep range. It's been a while since I've done that (have been using moderate weights in the 10-12 rep range recently), but I felt good!
Friday:
AM: Ghosting & pressure drills (1.5 hrs; 9/10)
Ok, this one was hard. We started out as usual with a gradual warmup, finishing up with plyos, agility, and speed work. Binnie joined in as well, so we did 8 sets of 30s on, 30s off. After that, we went straight into some high intensity continuous drills for several sets 2 mins. I was really struggling physically in the drills, as I was rarely earning time on the T. Anyway, I survived, and then Paul had me finish off with some sets of shot & ghost. Overall, a very intense session (perhaps more like 10/10), and I happily parked myself on the couch for the rest of the afternoon/evening/night!
PM: Rest
Like I said above, rest was very welcomed!
Saturday
AM: Rest
Was busy with client calls this morning, so I didn't get a chance to do a solo or recovery session.
PM: Match play (1.5 hrs; RPE 8/10)
I felt the quality of my play was good, but it felt SO, SO hard! I was really struggling to recover in between rallies against the better players. (Keep in mind, these were games against top 100 men, so it's one of those situations where the better you play, the longer the rallies are going to last, and therefore the harder it's going to feel!)
Overall, a good session. $ in the bank, and a well-earned rest day.
Sunday
Rest! Much needed. I worked at home on the computer and didn't even leave the apartment. In hindsight, perhaps not the best decision, since I think some fresh air and perhaps a little recovery session may have done me some good.
Next week:
This current week of training has been a struggle. I am really feeling the cumulative effects of last week's intensity and volume, and have had to decrease my quantity of training a bit accordingly. I'm not too upset about it- I just don't want to get flat and/or injured, so I'm reducing my workload to 1 session per day.
Anyway, that's all from me. If you enjoyed this sort of post, please comment or come over to Instagram and let me know!
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